A break from side-project hacking

The other day a friend asked me what I was working on, programming-wise. To my surprise, the answer was: nothing. Pretty much since I started learning to program in 2015 I have almost always had some kind of programming-oriented project going on (while also working).

Now, to be fair, this non-programming has only been going on for about 3 or 4 weeks. I was making videos for a game I started on the TIC-80, but I fell off of it ¹ . And while I intend to do more, I'm delightfully surprised to see myself absolutely fine about falling off an idea so quickly and not pursuing any side-project programming.

Of course, I've got other new and persisting interests. I continue to practice figure drawing everyday, and now I've added a pomodoro of portrait practice. I've also picked up a cheap linocut print and it's absolutely fantastically fun. I can't wait to make more.

But to return to this whole not-hacking-on-a-side-project. For the last few weeks I've been really transitioning away from the computer in multiple facets. I don't want to draw with a tablet, I don't really journal or take notes with obsidian (I'm just using a planner I bought), and I've even picked up my guitar and have been learning a rather challenging song. All of this has been really refreshing.

Now, if you know me well — yes, I'm as surprised as you. I suspect it won't be long before I'm back at puttering with some code, but then again, maybe coding will just be a work thing for a while. I can't say why - maybe I'm becoming more confident in my role at work and knowing my capacities, or maybe I've been lured back into analog land for some time. I think I'm learning that my skills might be better tuned to short-term projects and experiments, whereas long-term and enduring projects need to be examined more judiciously before embarked upon.

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